


Ex Best Friend

by orphan_account



Category: Rise (TV 2018)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Siremy, ernst and hanschen, kiss, nbc rise
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-05
Updated: 2018-05-05
Packaged: 2019-05-02 11:04:45
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,504
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14543349
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Simon and Jeremy hung out all the time Freshman year. For some reason, they drifted apart.Both are nervous to perform opposite each other in Spring Awakening.If something else had happened before the parking lot could (Aka my boy Jeremy doesn't get enough screen time so I wrote my own damn backstory)Enjoy :)





	Ex Best Friend

“What’d you get for number 34?”

“Uh...zero point six.”

“I got point eight...”

“Wait, what?”

The two boys passed their papers to each other, Jeremy lying on his stomach on his bed and Simon sitting on the floor leaning against it. They were doing homework with each other after rehearsal.

“Oh, duh, I accidentally solved for cosine instead of sine,” Simon said, rubbing his forehead. He sighed. “These unit review packets are gonna be the death of me.” 

“Same,” said Jeremy, sliding onto the floor. “I think my brain is going to melt into a puddle of mush from working for so long.”

Simon laughed. “Remember last year when we stayed up until three in the morning finishing that book project together?”

“OH MY GOD. The Macbeth one? Honestly, we did a good job on that, considering. Like, I thought we would totally fail the whole assignment.”

“I mean, we did have me doing some great sparknotes translation work.”

“Nah, I think your interpretive dance is what really helped clear the text up. You should make a career out of that,” Jeremy snorted. “The ‘what, you egg?’ dance, remember? Travel to a bunch of schools and hold assemblies. I can write your biography when you’re famous.”

Simon groaned and covered his face. “NO, I thought we’d agreed to forget the egg stabbing dance!”

“Not happening.”

“You’re an egg.”

“YOU’RE an egg.”

“And we totally ruined the kitchen trying to make deviled eggs,” Simon reminisced.

“The KITCHEN? No, my hand, look, I still have a scar from the burn I got from forgetting to use oven mitts,” said Jeremy.

“Wait, really? Let me see!” Simon grabbed his hand and ran his fingers over it, then quickly became embarrassed and dropped Jeremy’s hand. 

Jeremy turned to look at Simon. 

“Why did we stop hanging out? We used to be so close. And then we just...drifted apart.”

Simon swallowed. 

“I dunno...it just sort of… happened, I guess. Once the musical closed freshman year.” 

_Once I realized I might like you a bit more than a friend. ___

__There was a silence. Simon played with the pile of the carpet and Jeremy stared off into space._ _

__“Are you nervous for our scene?”_ _

__Simon jerked his head around. Nervous was one way to describe how he was feeling. If he really dug deep into his feelings, which he actually tried not to do very much as he often found things he didn’t want to find, he also felt a mix of such things as fear, apprehension, and guilt._ _

__“I’m pretty nervous,” Jeremy continued, brushing his blonde hair out of his eyes._ _

__“You are?”_ _

__Jeremy started talking very fast. “Yeah, I just mean, you know... Mr. Mazzu’s just going to like...make us kiss in rehearsal in front of everyone and stuff. I guess once the performances start it’ll probably be okay cause we’ll have rehearsed how it’ll all happen, but while we’re still first figuring out the scene… I dunno. It’ll just be weird to--” His face was turning a subtle shade of scarlet._ _

__“No, yeah. I’ve thought about that too.” He looked away. Actually, he’d been thinking about it so much it was practically consuming him. The thing was, he’d kissed Gwen loads of times for previous shows and it was never much of anything, or even all that great, so he didn’t know why this was such a big deal to him. Well, ok, he did know. What would happen if-- would people be able to tell if he lik--What would it even feel--? No, stop. It wasn’t like he was in love with his ex best friend or anything. The idea of that was preposterous. He should just push this down again. Lock it in a box and shove it as far away as possible._ _

__“Anyway…uh” Jeremy trailed off quietly, playing with the frayed sleeve of his flannel. “Number 35?”_ _

__“Do you want to run lines instead? I think I’ve done all the math I can manage today.”_ _

__Jeremy looked up._ _

__“Uh, yeah, sure. From the top of our scene?” He pushed his math away from him on the rug and rummaged through his backpack for his script._ _

__“Sure.”_ _

__They ran through the scene. Neither of them needed their script._ _

__“I don’t think we even have to practice these anymore, we’ve both got them all down, there aren’t a lot of them.”_ _

__“Advantages of not being cast as the lead?” Jeremy poked Simon’s shoulder._ _

__“Yeah, actually, I guess so.” He laughed hesitantly._ _

__“Look, do you want to just run the whole thing with the song and blocking and…”_ _

__Simon looked at him._ _

__“..and?”_ _

__“Like the kiss and all that, you know, so we don’t have to do it for the first time in front of the entire cast.”_ _

__Both of them were quiet for a moment._ _

__“Yeah, yeah, we should just get it out of the way--”_ _

__What the actual fuck was Simon thinking (Simon was thinking that he needed to know how he would react before having to do it in front of other people.) (So he could prepare)._ _

__“I mean, so it’s not as awkward--”_ _

__What the actual fuck was Jeremy thinking (Simon just couldn’t tell what he was thinking)._ _

__Was Simon reading into it? Was Jeremy? No. It was a scene. Deep breath._ _

__“Yeah.”_ _

__“Uh…”_ _

__Simon and Jeremy awkwardly turned to each other._ _

__“Ok. So, I’ll end here after ‘you’re gonna be my bruise,’” Simon said._ _

__“Ok. And then Ernst isn’t expecting it, so I’ll hang back a bit.”_ _

__“Cool. So I’ll just dart in, kind of, since it’s supposed to be short the first time.”_ _

__“Yeah, and then I’ll break it by turning this way for the next line”_ _

__“Cool.”_ _

__“Ok.”_ _

__“Cool.”_ _

__“So from the top?”_ _

__They found their starting spots. Simon felt his cheeks burning. He hoped it wasn’t noticeable. The first few lines were fine. Talk about the pail of milk. Talk about life philosophies. Then it was time for the song. This could be ok. He just had to stay as Hanschen. He was good at playing Hanschen. Turn on a kind of cocky, proper air. He could flirt as Hanschen. He could make eye contact as Hanschen. It didn’t matter that it was Jeremy, Jeremy with his goofy ideas and jokes, his insane talent, his brutal honesty and caring, his god awful fashion sense that was somehow so endearing._ _

__“Oh, you’re gonna be my wound.”_ _

__Why did he have to be cast as the character making the first move._ _

__“Oh, you’re gonna bruise too.”_ _

__He knelt down and moved his face toward Jeremy’s. Jeremy was watching him with his bright grey-blue eyes and that face he does while playing Ernst, his eyebrows sort of raised and pushed together. Simon almost got cold feet and backed out, but he forced himself to stay put._ _

__“Oh, you’re gonna be my bruise.”_ _

__He felt his breath catch. His face was so very close to Jeremy’s. Jeremy had abandoned the Ernst face and was simply gazing at him with saucers for eyes._ _

__It was now or never. He could just--_ _

__Simon chickened out and sat back on his heels, startling Jeremy._ _

__What was he, a middle schooler? It was just a kiss. He had to be professional. He was one of the best actors at Stanton. And that’s all it was, acting. He needed to do it. It didn’t matter how he felt in real life; either way, it was just something that had to be done._ _

__All of a sudden, in one big movement, he moved forward and pressed his lips against Jeremy’s. Jeremy made a little “oh” sound, startled again._ _

__Simon kissed hesitantly as first and Jeremy kissed back. He felt so hot and so cold at the same time. It was soft and Jeremy reached up and gently held the back of Simon’s neck and Simon grabbed Jeremy’s shoulder. It felt like Simon was floating. Jeremy could have pulled away to say his line a long time ago. And it was strange to him that even with the realization that they both knew this was definitely not a Hanschen-and-Ernst kiss, he didn’t feel the sharp spike of fear he was so used to. Everything in the world had stopped, and just for this moment, every single thing was perfect, and he was safe._ _

__They both pulled away and sat there for a moment, breathing heavily, just staring at each other. A smirk snuck onto Jeremy’s face, which turned into a giggle, which turned into a laugh from Simon, until the both of them were heaving with laughter on the floor. Jeremy playfully tousled Simon’s combed hair, to which Simon responded by throwing a nearby pillow at Jeremy’s face. Jeremy shrieked and dodged it and threw it back at him._ _

__Well shit. Maybe he was just a little, a tad, bit in love with his ex best friend.  
And maybe his ex best friend was just a little, a tad, bit in love with him too._ _

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks so much for reading!! There's not enough fanfic for Rise so if you have any prompts or requests PLEASE comment them or send them my way and I would love to write them!
> 
> Have a lovely day you lil edamame beans :) <3


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